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Shlomo Kramer -- I first interviewed him in June 2012 -- is one of the world's greatest information security entrepreneurs. He has helped found three leading companies in that market -- Check Point Software (CHKP), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), and Imperva (IMPV) -- of which he is chairman and CEO. And in a February 4 interview, Kramer gave his thoughts on where the information security market is heading.

The information security market is huge -- generating $30 billion in annual sales. According to Kramer, it consists of "two solution stacks -- the $10 billion to $12 billion (annual revenues) endpoint market -- represented by companies such as Symantec (SYMC) -- and the similarly-sized network market -- in which CheckPoint and Palo Alto Networks are leaders."

But Kramer argues that these two solutions stacks are not enough to protect organizations from "the new threat environment." And you don't have to look very far into the recent past to realize that things are different now. For example, in January 2013, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese hackers had broken into their networks.

Digging beneath the surface, Kramer identified the motivations of such hackers who break through technologies intended to protect business transactions and data stored in a data center. He points out that these hackers are "very sophisticated people driven by money, politics, and/or military motives."

Kramer believes that Imperva is an excellent choice for companies seeking to protect themselves from this new threat environment. And he argues that investors seeking to profit from its leading-edge products would be making a good bet. As Kramer explained, "for the last few quarters we have beaten earnings expectations and raised our guidance. We are gaining market traction and growing at 30% or more a quarter -- and doing so profitably."

Kramer is also optimistic about Imperva's future. He argues that "Our leading indicators are very positive. We are seeing booking and pipeline build-out. And more organizations are becoming aware of the need to re balance security spending to protecting the data center."

Imperva's customer base is big and growing because organizations are seeing new information security threats to their data centers. According to Kramer, "Our 2,200 large enterprise customers are protecting themselves from external threat vectors -- including mobile devices, web applications, customers, and partners."

In Kramer's experience, Israeli start-ups that need to be physically close to their customers tend to move to the U.S. when they have developed their product to the point where customers are eager to use it. Imperva and Palo Alto Networks are both based in Silicon Valley -- but retain engineering centers in Israel.

However, Kramer has enjoyed success investing in companies that have what he calls "a highly leveraged model in which the start-up can be generate significant sales through indirect channels." One example is Boston-based Trusteer that he founded in 2006 and sells through partners to "protect organizations against financial fraud and data breaches."

What are Imperva's prospects for 2013? According to its financial guidance issued February 7, the company expects to generate revenue between $131 million and $135 million. But Imperva is not quite ready to forecast GAAP profit -- instead it expects "non-GAAP net profit attributable to Imperva stockholders to be in the range of $4.0 million to $5.0 million," according to Reuters.

But can Kramer's companies earn a profit? Both Imperva and Palo Alto Networks are losing money on a GAAP basis. For example, for the last 12 months, Imperva generated a net loss of $7.4 million on sales of $104.2 million. And Palo Alto Networks' net loss was $6.9 million on $284 million in sales during the last 12 months.

Nevertheless, investors do not seem to be deterred by Imperva's lack of profitability -- its stock is up 35% since its November 2011 IPO. And given his track record of building successful information security companies, Kramer is likely to position Imperva to be a leader in protecting companies against the new threat environment.

Whether Imperva can generate a GAAP profit in the bargain remains to be seen.